Breeding Differently: Participatory Selection and Scaling Up Innovations in Colombia

Abstract

Global challenges like sustainable development, climate change, malnutrition and gender inequality can be tackled from an agricultural perspective. Micronutrient deficiency is a major problem for the health and food security of the population. In Colombia, iron deficiencies affect 32% of the children under the age of five; and 43% of the Colombian population have zinc and vitamin A deficiencies. We designed and implemented a research-for-development programme that links agriculture and nutrition through a two-stage project. In the first stage, we selected three new yellow potato cultivars with better nutritional contents, higher yield and better resistance to late blight than the traditional yellow cultivars. We characterized the Colombian germplasm, Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja, for its nutritional attributes. During this stage, studies of the social and nutritional status of the communities were also conducted. In the second stage, we focused on scaling up new potato cultivars to reach potato producers and consumers by promoting the production and marketing of good quality seed potatoes, by establishing four Rural Entrepreneurs Nuclei. The programme promotes gender equity, good dietary habits, the consumption of more nutritious potatoes and empowers local leadership to strengthen governance. Field work was conducted in southern and central regions of Colombia by employing social strategies such as the Family Farming Community Schools. In 50% of the cultivated area, we are replacing the originally used traditional yellow potatoes by the new, more nutritious, potatoes to reach 6 million consumers. A good quality seed system for small-scale potato growers has been implemented. These achievements have been reached through a comprehensive approach in a period of two years.

Pathway-based analysis of anthocyanin diversity in diploid potato

“…The answers to these questions are crucial to design breeding strategies to improve anthocyanin content. Diploid landraces represent an underexploited source of genetic diversity [53][54][55] and an excellent model to fill these knowledge gaps. Recently, an exploratory analysis of anthocyanin content in these landraces identified QTL explaining more than 30% of the phenotypic variation [15].…”

Proximal composition, bioactive compounds and biorefinery approach in potato tubers of Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja: a review

“…However, it is important to consider the composition of that nutrient‐bioactive compound can have significant variations according to each particular genotype (Ritter et al , ; Burlingame et al , ; Cerón‐Lasso et al , ). Mosquera Vásquez et al () conducted transdisciplinary research on the development of three varieties of Group Phureja potatoes with a higher iron and zinc content than traditional cultivars, to impact the rural and health sectors in Colombia.…”

Gross Primary Production of Rainfed and Irrigated Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in the Colombian Andean Region Using Eddy Covariance Technique

“…Potato is an important agroecosystem for worldwide carbon and GHG balances due to its sizeable cultivated area (more than 19 million hectares) [17] and its extraordinary adaptive range. In Colombia and the world, potato is the primary source of income of thousands of small-scale producers and the most crucial staple food, playing a significant role in the maintenance of food security and nutritional status [18].…”